Year after year, Rodriguez is one of the highest rated conference presenters. Attendees can expect more of the same from his Safety 2017 session, Vision 20/20: Preventing Opportunity Blindness, during which Rodriguez promises to help attendees explore new ways to convert tough challenges into growth opportunities.

"In my view, the part of destiny we control is the result of a series of actions we undertake based on our perception of the world around us," Rodriguez says. Keen safety professionals can discover these opportunities by stepping out of their comfort zone and thinking like operations managers, manufacturing supervisors, business development leaders, etc. "By significantly expanding our peripheral vision and situational perception, we expose the hidden opportunities that, if embraced, can drive our careers to the next level," he says. "The crooked path toward significant growth is paved with the remnants of obstacles. I call these remnants, successes."

Rodriguez offers a simple plan that OSH professionals can follow to growth and become more effective collaborators. The plan encompasses his four "Bs" of business:

Be Brief: Treat time as money, because it is. Shorten emails and meetings; get to the point quickly. Manage your time to focus on results.

Be Prepared: Do your homework. Know who is sitting at the table and respond from their perspectives. Determine what is valued and how it is measured. Ask for advice on approach, delivery and, more importantly, for their concerns. Sell your idea by selling yourself. Take this valuable information and build your collaborative efforts around it to achieve ultimate buy-in.

Be Inspiring: If you are not completely fired up about your idea, project or initiative, no one else will be. Your hair needs to be on fire (which is why I do not have any left). Become a positive energy delivery device for your organization.

Be Gone: Make commitments, then do what you said you were going to do. Hold yourself accountable for exceeding them. Deliver performance that is valuable to the organization.

As an influential senior leader at Raytheon Company, Rodriguez applies this mind-set constantly. He manages a team that develops, deploys and implements effective safety management systems to the support of high-dollar value contracts spanning more than 500 sites across 100 countries.

"A mind-set that prevents opportunity blindness through collaboration and understanding that your destiny is up to you will deliver an incredible and rewarding career," Rodriguez says. "Mind-set is everything."

He also adapts this mind-set in his consulting practice, Make My Day Strategies LLC, and in life. Rodriguez quotes Michael Altahuler, "The bad news is time flies. The good news is that you’re the pilot."